Paris Olympics: Sindhu, Prannoy get easy groups; tough task for Lakshya, Tanisha-Ashwini
PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy were on Friday handed easy groups for the Paris Games beginning on July 26. Sindhu, who won the silver medal at the Rio Games and followed that with a bronze in Tokyo Olympics, has been seeded 10th.
The World number 13 has been drawn in Group M of the women's singles alongside Kristin Kuuba of Estonia (WR 75) and Maldives' Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq. (WR 111).
While Sindhu, who is vying for a third Olympic medal, has a relatively easy group, she could face China's sixth seed He Bing Jiao in the round of 16.
If she gets past Jiao, Sindhu will likely face Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei of China in the quarterfinals.
The 29-year-old has not had the smoothest of runs in the lead up to the Olympics and it will take a special effort from her to a complete a hat-trick of medals at the Summer Games.
Meanwhile, Prannoy, who will be making his Olympic debut, has been seeded 13th and will have to go past Vietnam's Le Duc Phat (WR 70) and Fabian Roth (WR 82) of Germany in Group K of the men's singles event.
The second Indian in the men's singles, Lakshya Sen, ranked 19, has been drawn in Group L.
The unseeded Lakshya has third seed and world number three Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in his group. They both are joined by Guatemala's Kevin Cordon (WR 41) and Belgium's Julien Carragi (WR 52).
Lakshya has an inferior 1-4 head-to-head record against Christie with the Indonesian getting the better of the 22-year-old twice this year already.
If both Prannoy and Lakshya can top their group, they
